It’s a term that's becoming more familiar with central Pennsylvania hunters.

Chronic Wasting Disease is a degenerative, neurological disease found in deer, elk and moose. It causes abnormal behavior, loss of basic bodily functions and general disorientation.

“CWD is a top priority of the Game Commission,” said Dustin Stoner, the education supervisor for its southeast region.

A confirmed case of CWD was detected earlier this year at a deer farm in northern Lancaster County. After another deer was just diagnosed at the same farm in May, the business was closed.

The Game Commission has since set up a quarantine area that encompasses parts of Lancaster, Lebanon and Berks counties. Hunting within the zone sets up serious restrictions about what parts of a deer can be taken out of the restricted area including the brain, eyes, teeth, spleen and spinal column. These parts hold the proteins that carry CWD. Deer harvested inside the zone can also be dropped off for free testing.

Can you still get your deer tested if you hunt outside of a quarantine zone?

White-tailed deer buck(Photo: Lynn_Bystrom, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“If you hunt outside of a disease management area, the Game Commission does not provide free testing, but you can take your deer to the Department of Agriculture and then they have a testing protocol,” Stoner said.

Testing can cost approximately $75 per deer.

York County

York County is right in the middle of Disease Management Area 2 (includes Adams, Cumberland and Franklin counties) Disease Management Area 4 (includes Lancaster, Lebanon, Berks counties).

In 2012, there was a diagnosed case of CWD in Adams County that set up Disease Management Area 1 that covered eastern Adams County and northern York County. After five years of monitoring and no new cases, DMA 1 was dissolved in June 2017.

"If you don't want to pay the $75 to get your deer tested, change the way you process your deer," said Bert Einodshofer, of the Game Commission's southcentral region. "It's traditional to cut the deer down the spine when processing. Discontinue that because if that deer is positive, you are releasing those infectious fluids onto the edible meat."

Einodshofer also recommends labeling your deer after packaging and not grinding meat from numerous deer into the same product (burgers, bologna).

What happens if you eat a deer with CWD?

Though there is no evidence that CWD can be passed on to humans, some studies suggest that it does pose a threat to non-human primates. The World Health Organization has recommended that no disease-containing prion should enter the human food chain.